Author's Notes: Surprise! I've started another TLOU story. This is actually an idea I've had for a while, but never saw an opportunity to use it. I've decided to put it to use by writing another fanfiction.
Before I say anything else, I regret to say that A World Scorned is dead. I simply lost motivation for it. I'm disappointed to let all of my ideas go to waste, but the reception was far more underwhelming than I was hoping for, and I didn't feel like it was worth it. As much as I liked my characters, I just couldn't get attached to them like I did Joel and Ellie, which is probably why I lost motivation. So, I've decided to start another journey with my two favorite characters.
I'm sure many of you are familiar with my first fanfiction, Brand New Start. This story is NOT connected with that one; they are completely separate stories. Much like how Brand New Start's title came from a song, the title of this story comes from a song of the same name by the metal band Lamb Of God. While the song doesn't really have anything to do with the themes in this story, the title is relevant. This story is my take on how a sequel involving these two characters could play out. There will be a lot of moments in this story where I will try and capture the feel of the gameplay, from stealthing the enemies, scouring for supplies, and many other nuances of the gameplay. There will also be a pun book moment or two, so that's exciting.
I would also like to announce that I have a much bigger project going on. For the past two and a half months I have been working on an original novel, which I have over 40,000 words for. Details will remain secret, but the basic premise is that it's a coming-of-age story in the form of a fictional musician telling his life story as he's getting ready for a gig on the five year anniversary of an event that shattered his life. It will possibly be even sadder than Brand New Start was, as hard as that may be to believe. I will keep you all updated as I make progress on that.
That's enough from me. Who's excited to start another journey with Joel and Ellie? I'm assuming all of you are, so enjoy the story!
Disclaimer: I do not own The Last Of Us or the characters, except the ones I introduce. All credit goes to Naughty Dog.
Walk With Me in Hell
CH. 1: On The Warpath
One could almost say it was… normal. Or rather, as close to normal as life could be two decades after the collapse of civilization. The town nestled in the valley of Jackson, Wyoming proved to be the only safe haven remaining on the face of the planet. The town flourished with life as its residents could enjoy some of the simplest pleasures in a world where the word pleasure had nearly been erased from everyone's vocabulary. It provided comfort, security, and above all else, a chance for people to live a normal life.
Most importantly, life had almost returned to normal for the weary old man and the little girl he had taken in as his own. Joel and Ellie now had a permanent home, a welcoming community, and a sense of safety that neither had known for over a year. Joel could now watch over Ellie without fear that they would not see the next day, and Ellie now had a chance to experience a way of life she had never known. One could almost say it was… normal.
"We're coming up on the plant," Tommy said over the radio. He, Maria, Joel, Ellie, and around half a dozen others were riding from the town to the plant to resupply the crew that was guarding it. Joel had brought Ellie along to let her learn the ropes of guard duty. Ellie was excited to get a chance to prove herself to the pros, especially Maria. She had shared stories with the woman about her marksmanship and gun prowess, and was eager to show off her skills firsthand.
"I've set up some targets for you," Maria told Ellie as she handed her a semi-automatic rifle. "In the event of a bandit raid, it's important to take them out quick to not give them an opportunity to advance. Along this treeline there are ten targets. I will not tell you where they are, it's your job to identify them and take them out quickly. There's ten rounds in the gun, and five in the spare mag. I'll be timing you with this stopwatch. If you can find and hit all ten targets in under two minutes, you will pass the test. Think you can handle it?"
Ellie snickered at the test she had been given. "I thought this was supposed to be a challenge," she said.
"Don't get too cocky," Maria snickered back. "I intentionally made some of the targets hard to see."
"Pssh. They don't call me Eagle Eyes Ellie for nothing." She stood with her back to the treeline so she couldn't memorize where the targets were before she started, and Maria raised her stopwatch.
"On my mark..." Ellie was confident and cool as a cucumber. Hitting ten targets? That was nothing compared to some of the other stuff she's had to do. Maria gave the command, "Go!" and Ellie whipped around and shouldered the rifle immediately. Within a second, she had the first target in her sights, and she pulled the trigger. She scored a direct hit, and quickly scanned the treeline for the next target. She found one partially hidden behind a tree stump, and nailed that one as well. She racked up hit after hit after hit at a blistering pace, but seemed to freeze as she got down to the last two targets. She had eight hits, but Maria said there were ten targets. Maria was not lying when she said they were hard to see.
"Where are the last two?" Ellie asked frantically.
"I told you they were hidden. You've got forty-five seconds."
Ellie was starting to panic, even though this was just a test; an exhibition. She hated failure, especially when other people were there to see her fail. Finally, she found one of the remaining targets placed in a thick shrub. She pulled the trigger, and her hit streak improved to nine. "Gotchya."
"One more to go. Thirty seconds left."
"I totally got this," Ellie said to herself. She scanned the treeline rapidly, but the last target would not reveal itself.
"Fifteen seconds."
"Fuck," she said quietly. The pressure was on; time was running out. Her eagle eyes were letting her down at the most crucial time.
"Ten seconds."
Ellie looked away for a moment in frustration, but in doing so, something caught her eye. She glanced back, and there it was. The final target placed out in the open in a completely different area than Maria told her to look. "Oh, you little shit," Ellie said as she set her sights on the target. With nothing shielding the target, it proved to be the easiest hit out of the ten she scored. Ten shots - ten hits. "Fuck yeah!" she yelled triumphantly. "You are such a little cheat," she said to Maria.
"That was to test your vigilance and awareness. You passed with five seconds to go."
"So I didn't set any records, but I passed."
"I have to say I'm impressed. You're the youngest person to pass the test."
"Well to be fair, I'm probably the youngest person to take the test."
The girls chuckled at Ellie's comment. "Yeah, you got me there. Oh, here comes Joel."
Ellie turned around and saw Joel walking up the staircase to the walkway she was on. "Hey kiddo. I heard you passed Maria's test."
"Pssh. Obviously."
"I knew you could do it. Come on, Tommy wants to take you into the tunnels to show you how to properly guard those."
"Sounds good." As Ellie answered Joel, a familiar sound rang in her ears. The plant's emergency siren. "Oh fuck, not again," she said nervously.
"Get to your stations!" Maria shouted. "We're under attack!"
"Joel, what do we do?" Ellie asked in a panic.
"You're with me," Joel said. "I'll keep you safe." Joel and Ellie followed Maria as they met up with two of the guards currently stationed at the plant.
"What's the situation?" Maria asked the guards.
"We've got a breach on the North end of the plant. Appears to be around twenty attackers."
"Where's Tommy?"
"Already there."
"Joel, Ellie, follow me," Maria instructed. The three of them made their way to the firefight, and on the way ran into Tommy falling back.
"Ellie, we've gotta get you outta here," Tommy said.
"I can fight," Ellie insisted.
"I know you can, but I don't want you to. This isn't like the attack last fall, these guys are more heavily armed. This is too dangerous for you."
"What are you planning, Tommy?" his wife asked him.
"I'm gonna take Ellie and Joel with me and get them to safety. You head to the bridge and join the rest of the guards."
"Tommy, this is too dangerous," Maria said.
"I got this. Trust me."
A loud explosion sounded nearby, and bullets started whizzing close to the group as they dove for cover. "Your ass better get back in one piece," Maria demanded.
"I'll be fine." Another explosion went off, even closer than before. "Ellie, Joel, with me." Tommy stood up and quickly led the way to a door that opened to a staircase going up to the catwalks inside one of the plant buildings. Ellie and Joel stayed right on his heels as they walked up and above the firefight going on below. "Whatever you do, do not engage," he instructed them. "We don't got no cover up here." The catwalks led to an open doorway at the opposite side of the building, and in that room there was a side door. "This door leads to the tunnels. We just gotta hope these bandits ain't usin' them." He opened the door that led to another staircase. The group made their way down the multiple flights until they reached the plant's tunnel system that served as both a maintenance network and an emergency escape route. The problem with using those tunnels to escape the firefight was that bandits could get in through the exit, and in that corridor it would be a turkey-shoot. "I know my way through here. Just stay right on my heels." The tunnel system was a maze, with many turns and dead ends, but Tommy had memorized the layout. Unfortunately, his memory wouldn't be able to get them out, as they rounded a corner to find that the hall was flooded with electrified water. "Stop!" Tommy shouted. "We can't go this way."
"What do we do now?" Ellie asked.
"We'll have to go back up to the surface. Backtrack and climb up that ladder we just passed."
"Tommy, you better get us outta here," Joel said angrily to his brother.
"I'm tryin'!"
The group got to the ladder, and Tommy was the first one to go up. "Where does this lead?" Joel asked.
"The generator room. Hopefully this is far enough from the fighting that we can get out safely."
"I don't like this, Tommy." Joel grabbed onto the ladder and started climbing, with Ellie immediately behind him.
"I don't either." He opened the hatch at the top of the ladder and looked around. "Alright, it's clear." Tommy climbed to the surface and helped Joel and Ellie out of the ladder. When they were both up, he shut the hatch, but the lock had been broken, so anybody could climb back up. "Okay, follow me quickly." They followed Tommy up to the main walkway above the generator room floor, and through the control room to the door outside. Tommy tried to open it, but the door would not budge.
"Hurry up, Tommy!" Joel shouted.
"It's stuck!"
All of a sudden, gunshots sounded from the opposite end of the generator room. "Guys, they're in here!" Ellie yelled in a panic.
"Get the goddamn door open!"
"I can't!"
"Oh, for Christ's sake!" Joel grabbed his shotgun and stuck the barrel against the lock on the steel door. He pulled the trigger, and obliterated the lock, forcing the door open. "Move!" Joel shouted as he let Tommy go ahead.
"We're almost outta here," Tommy said. They turned the corner to find a long, open corridor that connected to the back entryway. "There's a gate at the end of this." They all sprinted down the path with safety in their sight. Their luck had held out up until that point, but in the clearing at the end of the walkway, two bandits that just come through that gate raised their weapons as Tommy stepped into the clearing. Tommy managed to drop one with his rifle, but that's where their luck would run out. The other bandit set Tommy in his sights, and fired... striking Tommy in the chest. Blood spattered out of his chest, and Joel watched in horror as his baby brother fell to the ground.
"NOOO!"
Joel turned to the man who cut down his brother, and rage consumed him as he fired his shotgun again, and again, and again until the bandit was missing and entire section of his torso.
Joel turned back to his little brother, who was bleeding profusely from the chest. He ran over to his side and rolled him onto his back. Tommy was still alive, but his breathing was failing, and he was making stomach-churning pained noises. "Tommy!" Joel pressed both of his hands onto Tommy's wound, but Tommy took a hold of Joel's left hand, and held it tightly in his own. "Tommy, it's gonna be okay. Just stay with me." Joel felt his heart drop, just like it did when he discovered that his daughter had been shot.
"Joel..." Tommy said with pain in his eyes. "Take care of my wife." Joel looked back into Tommy's eyes with pain of his own. His little brother was slipping away right before his eyes. Joel hadn't known pain like this since he saw the same thing happen to Sarah twenty years ago. "Take care of my town."
"Don't do this to me, Tommy. Come on, baby brother, stay with me." Joel pleaded desperately for Tommy to hold on, but it was too late. Tommy let out one final exhale as the life vacated his eyes, and the hand holding Joel's fell to the ground. "Tommy!" Joel called out. He hoped there was still something left of his little brother, but looking into Tommy's eyes, he saw nothing but death. "T-T-Tommy," he whimpered as he bowed his head and felt tears start to leak from his eyes. He brought his left hand to his face, and gritted his teeth to try and prevent the tears from coming out. A smothering feeling of grief overtook him, and he could feel himself asphyxiating from it. His brother was dead, and the end came quickly and brutally.
Ellie watched on in shock. In a matter of seconds she had seen a hardened, ruthless killing machine be reduced to a blubbering wreck. She never thought she would see him this vulnerable, but she also never thought he would lose the last of his true family. "Oh my God... Joel..." She stepped forward and reached a hand out to him, but didn't actually touch him. "I am so sorry."
Joel ran a hand through Tommy's hair, and bent down to give him a quick kiss on his forehead. Joel picked his head up off of Tommy's head, and used his fingers to shut his eyes forever.
As Joel sat next to the body of his little brother, a faint voice came from a ways behind them. "Tommy!" It was Maria, and she was looking for her husband. "We held them off, Tommy."
"Oh, shit. Maria's coming," Ellie said. The two were afraid of how Maria would react when she stumbled upon her now deceased husband.
"Tommy." She emerged from the long courtyard, and looked over at Tommy's body. Her stomach immediately dropped, and a look of fear and grief fell over her face. "TOMMY!" She ran towards the body, and Joel stood up to hold her back. Maria struggled against Joel, trying desperately to get to her husband's side. "Tommy! Tommy!"
"Maria, stay back-"
"Tommy, no! Tommy-y-y-y," she stopped resisting Joel as she broke down into tears. "NOOOOOO!" she bellowed out as she buried her head into Joel's chest, bawling her eyes out over her Tommy's death.
Joel wrapped his arms tightly around Maria, and he felt her tears soaking through his shirt. "Just take it easy, Maria."
"No... no..." she whimpered through her sobbing. "T-T-Tommy..."
Ellie watched the two mourning the loss with a heavy heart of her own. She had seen a man lose his brother, a woman lose her husband, and a town lose one of its leaders. She bowed her head in grief, but managed to keep any tears from coming out, much unlike Joel and Maria.
Maria was back at her house in the town that evening. Tommy had been buried as soon as they arrived back from the plant, and Maria was now left to grieve alone. She and Tommy built the town together along with her father, whom she also had to bury years before. With Tommy's death, the two men Maria loved most in her life were gone.
Joel opened the door to Maria's house, and saw her looking out the back window. Without looking at him, she started talking. "Five years... Five years Tommy and I were married... Now he's gone. I'm a widow." Joel walked over to the grieving woman and stood right behind her. "So I guess this is the cost of building a safe haven for people. They say that no good deed goes unpunished... My punishment for bringing hope to people who've all but abandoned hope is that I lose the first man I can ever say I loved... How is that fair?"
Joel knew her question was rhetorical, but he answered anyway. "Believe me, I'm all too familiar with how unfair the world is." He walked to the open sitting area in her house to give her space, and she spoke up again.
"So why are you here?" she asked as she turned around. "You wouldn't come here when I'm like this unless you had something substantial to share, so either tell me or get out."
Joel did have something substantial to share. He found something on the bandit who killed Tommy that was surprisingly undamaged by Joel's shotgun barrage. We pulled the folded piece of paper out of his pocket, and handed it to Maria. "I found this on one of the bandits."
Maria took the paper and opened it up, revealing that it was a map of Jackson County. "This is a map of the area." A closer inspection of the map revealed that it was a map kept by the bandits detailing their plans of attack. Three areas circled in black marked the different places the bandits were hiding out, with red arrows drawn to several other areas in the county. The red arrows are their routes of attack. "It's the bandits' attack map."
"What we got at the plant was just a small taste of what these guys are capable of. I found this note," he took another smaller piece of paper out of his pocket, "and it says that they're planning an all-out attack on the town." Maria's eyes widened when Joel said the bandits were planning to launch an assault on the town. "That map tells us that there are multiple cells of these bandits working together. If they all attack this town, it could be catastrophic."
Joel could clearly see fear in Maria's eyes. There were over a hundred people in the town, and dozens of children. All of them were at risk if the bandits attacked. "What should we do?" Maria asked.
"Send a group of men to these two areas," Joel pointed to the two small bandit bases, "make sure they're well-armed, and they should be able to drive them out easily. My beef," Joel then pointed to the large bandit base that launched the attack on the plant earlier, "is with these bastards. These are the bastards that attacked the plant, these are the bastards that killed my brother. I'm gonna go make sure that was the last mistake they ever make."
"I hope you're not planning on dragging Ellie into this."
"Of course not. I ain't gonna put her at risk like that. I'm leavin' you in charge of her while I'm gone."
Maria nodded, indicating she accepted the task of keeping an eye on Ellie. "So how many men are you taking with you?"
"None. It's my brother they killed. This mission is personal."
Maria remained silent for a second, bewildered that Joel thought he could take on an entire bandit operation by himself. "You expect to deal with them all by yourself?"
"I've been doin' it for years. This is not different."
"And what am I supposed to tell Ellie if you don't make it back?"
"I'll be back. And I'll only be gone a few days," Joel assured Maria.
"And have you told Ellie about this?" she asked.
"I wasn't plannin' on telling her anything about this. If I do tell her, she'll be all up on my ass to take her with me. But that's not gonna happen. You keep a close eye on her, make sure she doesn't get into trouble, maybe you could even put her to work. Got it?"
Maria hesitated, debating whether or not she liked the assignment Joel had given her. "I got it."
"I'm heading out first thing tomorrow mornin'. I want you to stay with Ellie the whole time I'm gone." Joel nodded at Maria to make sure she understood, and she nodded back to say she did. "Well, I'll leave you alone now. And don't worry... I will make those bastards pay for killing Tommy."
"You'd sure as hell better," Maria said.
Without saying anything more, Joel turned around and walked out of Maria's house, leaving her to grieve alone once again.
Joel walked into the town's general store where people traded for goods. They could either trade supplies or with work credits, gotten by working a certain number of hours either on guard duty or in the farms. "Evenin' Gary," Joel called out to the man who ran the store.
"Hey Joel. How're you feeling?"
Joel let out a heavy sigh as he approached Gary's counter. "Oh, as good as one can feel after losing their brother," he said.
Gary nodded sadly, and looked at Joel with sympathy. "Tommy was a great man with a great vision. It's hard to imagine life in this town without him. But enough of the downer talk. Is there anything I can help you with?"
"I need ammo. And lots of it. 20-gauge, .308, .45, and 9-mil."
Joel's request took Gary by surprise. "What on Earth do you need with so much ammo?" he asked Joel.
"I'm going on a little 'quest' if you will. I found where the bandits who attacked the plant are based and I was gonna go and make them pay with their blood for takin' my brother away from me."
"You really think you can take on a whole bandit camp by yourself?"
"I've done it many times before," Joel said almost boastfully.
"Remind me not to piss you off," Gary chuckled as he pulled out boxes of the ammo Joel requested. Joel took as many rounds from the box as he felt he needed and then some, making absolutely sure he wouldn't run out.
"I think that'll do," Joel said. "So how much do I owe ya for this?"
"You know what? You don't owe me anything. You've lost your brother today, I couldn't take any more from you. Especially since this ammo is for a good cause. It's on the house."
Joel nodded, appreciative of Gary's generosity. "Thank you, Gary."
"No problem. Make sure you give those fuckers absolute Hell."
"Don't worry, I will."
Joel arrived back at his and Ellie's house, and immediately after closing the front door behind him, Ellie came and gave him a forceful shove. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" she asked aggressively.
"What are you talking about?"
"If you think that you're gonna just leave me here while you're off on your little revenge mission, you can forget it. Now take me with you!"
Joel was perplexed at how she found out about his quest. But he was more concerned for her safety. "Ellie, it's too dangerous to take you with me-"
"Bull-fucking-shit! We've been through way more dangerous stuff. If you're gonna be out there risking your ass, I want to help make sure you get back in one piece."
"Ellie, you're not coming with me, end of discussion. Where'd you even hear about this?"
"Who else?" an older female voice said from the other room. Joel and Ellie turned as Maria stepped around the corner and into the room they were in. "You know, trying to hide this from Ellie was a bad idea." Ellie turned back to Joel with a huge, taunting smile on her face.
"Maria, I told you to keep an eye on her-"
"I will. And you will too, because we're both coming with you." Maria stood next to Ellie with her hands on her hips, and Ellie took up the exact same pose still with the taunting smile.
Joel threw up his hands in disbelief that Maria would do this. "Maria-"
"Joel, you listen to me. Tommy was more than just your brother, he was my husband. You'd bet your ass I want a piece of those fuckers who took him away. And so does Ellie."
Ellie stuck her head forward and stuck her tongue out at Joel, taunting him even harder for thinking he'd get away with his plan to go on his revenge mission without her.
Joel did not like the idea of bringing Ellie along with him on his dangerous mission, but after thinking, he realized there was no way she wasn't coming. He admitted defeat with a sigh, and told the girls, "We leave at dawn tomorrow."
"You're damn right," Maria said. "And I won't sleep peacefully until I see those bastards dead."
"Get some sleep," Joel said. "It's gonna be a rough next few days."
That concludes chapter 1 of Walk With Me In Hell. Stay tuned for chapter 2.
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